UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: ASOS Rises After Strong Holiday Trading

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

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Rightmove, up 1.0%. JPMorgan raised the property portal to Neutral from Underweight.

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Vodafone, up 0.9%. The telecommunications firm said its partnership with Sunrise in Switzerland began at the start of January. Vodafone explained that the deal will allow Sunrise's enterprise customers to benefit from a range of Vodafone business services, including mobile connectivity, roaming and central procurement. Vodafone also said that, over time, the companies plan to expand their partnership to deliver mobile converged services to enterprises across Europe and beyond.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Antofagasta, down 3.0%, Rio Tinto, down, 2.3%, Glencore, down 2.0%, BHP, down 1.5%. London mining stocks were lower as investors fretted over the coronavirus outbreak in China. A second central Chinese city is being put on lockdown to help control the spread of a virus epidemic that broke out in neighbouring Wuhan, authorities said Thursday. More than 570 people have been infected with the virus across China - with most cases found in Wuhan, where a seafood market that illegally sold wild animals has been identified as the epicentre of the outbreak. "Mining stocks, which are particularly exposed to China's economic fortunes given its position as leading consumer of the world's commodities, are weak this morning," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.

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Compass Group, down 1.5%. HSBC cut the contract caterer to Hold from Buy.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

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Paypoint, down 4.2%. The payment processing company said revenue grew in the recent quarter despite closure of about 2% of its sites. However, the company warned recent warm weather has hit energy transactions within UK bill payments and said parcel volume growth remains towards the lower end of its expectations. PayPoint said the warmer weather over the period of the festive season and the first three weeks of January continues to affect energy transactions within UK bill payments. Overall, PayPoint said it remains confident of progression in pretax profit excluding exceptional items for the year ending March 31, albeit said it is now "likely" to be at a more modest rate than previously expected. A year ago, PayPoint's pretax profit excluding exceptional items was GBP53.8 million.

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Lancashire Holdings, down 3.5%. HSBC cut the insurer to Reduce from Hold.

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS

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ASOS, up 4.7%. The online fashion retailer said a "better than expected" Black Friday trading period contributed to a double-digit sales climb in the first four months of its financial year. In the period to December 31, total retail sales rose 20% to GBP1.07 billion from GBP895.0 million the year before. Revenue, which includes delivery fees and third-party income, was also up 20% year-on-year, climbing to GBP1.10 billion from GBP917.9 million. UK sales rose 18% year-on-year to GBP408.9 million and US sales were 23% higher at GBP139.3 million. Sales in the EU arm climbed 21% year-on-year to GBP332.5 million. The company added its total orders rose 20% during the period to 27.7 million, a reflection of the "robust operational performance through peak period at all our distribution centres".

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS

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Smartspace Software, down 35%. The space management software provider issued a profit warning due to an issue with a key supplier and said its annual revenue will likely be flat on the year before. It had expected to complete its "pipeline of near-term enterprise opportunities" before year-end on Friday next week, the majority of which are with existing clients. However, this is no longer the case. Smartspace said an unnamed supplier "is seeking to fulfil an order as soon as possible" but delivery will not occur before Smartspace's year-end. Because of the delay, Smartspace could not conclude negotiations or recognise revenue "on a number of material enterprise prospects" expected in financial 2020 and so revenue levels are likely to be similar to financial 2019, when the firm's revenue was GBP6.3 million. This revenue result will hurt earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation as well. In financial 2019, Smartspace's adjusted Ebitda loss was GBP2.7 million. This adjusted figure is for continuing operations and excludes impairment charges and share based payment charge.

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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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